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The Six Sacred Stones (artefacts)
The Six Sacred Stones, also known as the Six Ramesean Stones or the Six Guidestones of Ra's Twin, are ancient artefacts which are mysteriously connected to the Machine. History Early History Though unconfirmed, each of the Sacred Stones could potentially have been constructed by the super-ancient beings rather than humans, since they included them in their second trial. At a currently unknown point in Earth's history, the Super-Ancient Beings discovered the Dark Sun and set about constructing a machine that would repel it before it came too close to the planet. During their endeavors, they constructed tools that would work in unison with the Firestone of the Golden Capstone help to cleanse the Pillars, reveal the locations of each Vertex during a Titanic Rising, the dates each Pillar had to be laid, view the Dark Star and reveal the incantation that would activate the Machine. Though they were able to prevent the Dark Star from approaching in their time, the Super-Ancient Beings realised that even after they were gone from the Earth, there may yet be intelligent life, and so left the Six Sacred Stones and Pillars so that human kind could use them to aid their attempts to rebuild the Machine. Eventually, five of the Sacred Stones came to be kept in Egypt under the Pharaoh Khufu's keep (himself apparently being a King of one of the Four Legendary Kingdoms). The remaining Sacred Stone, the Altar Stone, was left to remain at its shrine of Stonehenge. When he rose to power, Rameses II came to refer to the Basin as his own. Ultimately, however, the priest Thuthmosis stole the Pillars and the Sacred Stones and took them with him as he fled Egypt, unwittingly putting the Earth at greater risk of being destroyed by the Dark Sun. Before The Six Sacred Stones Because of Thuthmosis's actions, the Sacred Stones were scattered around the known world over the next few thousand years, though the Altar Stone of Stonehenge continued to remain where it had been left for years. The former priest would claim that a single God had written on the Twin Tablets his Ten Commandments, and they would be held by his descendants until they were stolen and hidden beneath the Churches of Lalibela. The Seeing Stone wound up with the Neetha tribe at the very shrine it was intended to be used at after briefly being stolen away to Delphi. The Philosopher's Stone ended up in the hands of the Chinese Scholar Laozi, who arranged for it to be guarded by a series of traps in a cavern beneath Witch Mountain. The Basin was ultimately obtained by the British, but due to Napoléon Bonaparte's mis-identification the artefact was left on display at the British Museum under another name. Furthermost away from the other Sacred Stones, the Killing Stone ended up in the hands of the Mayans, who would use the stone in their sacrificial killing rituals until the Americans took possession of it later on. In the course of their research into the Machine, Max "Wizard" Epper and Felix Bonaventura both identified the Six Guidestones and most of their functions, concluding that they were crucial to uncovering the locations of the Vertices and readying the Pillars for laying in the Machine. As Wolf's CIEF forces, the Chinese and Saudi Arabians agreed to an alliance to restore the Machine, they began making plans to locate the Sacred Stones (aside from the already-known Killing Stone). Eventually they discovered the relative location of the Twin Tablets in Ethiopia, and so Wolf opened a mining operation to try and uncover them. The enslaved miners eventually uncovered the Tablets, but chose to keep them hidden from their oppressors in the hope that salvation would come later on. Wolf's alliance also learned of Laozi's possession of the Philosopher's Stone, and so Mao Gongli prepared to locate its resting place within his homeland. The Six Sacred Stones On the 1st of December 2007, Wizard, Tank and Chow Ling located Laozi's chambers, hoping to locate the Philosopher's Stone. However, they were interrupted by Mao and his men, who killed Chow and had Wizard and Tank imprisoned before making their attempt to get through Laozi's trap system. Before his capture, Wizard sent Jack West Jr a coded message with several of his notes, leading to the reforming of the Coalition of Minnows to gather the Sacred Stones in order to restore the Machine. The American CIA attache who attended the meeting at the Burj al Arab, Paul Robertson, offered the intel that the Americans had the Killing Stone and offered to have it brought to their next meeting for use in the mission. Once they concluded that they needed Wizard and his knowledge, the Coalition liberated him and Tank and made their way to Witch Mountain to retrieve the Philosopher's Stone. In the days after the Chinese began, the brute force Mao and his men employed to get through the trap system proved to be ill-suited and making little progress towards the Stone. Unlike Mao and his men, however, the Coalition team were able to overcome Laozi's traps by figuring out the truth of the yin-and-yang-based system, stun Mao and his men and making their way through to the Cavern of the Tower. Jack then proceeded through the speed-and-time trap system and managed to retrieve the Philosopher's Stone. Meanwhile, Zoe Kissane, Lily West and Alby Calvin took the Firestone with them England to rendezvous with Julius and Lachlan Adamson to unlock the secrets of the Altar Stone of Stonehenge. The group made their way to Stonehenge, disabled the guards and began restoring the ancient site as best they could, including re-standing the Altar Stone. They finished moments before the Titanic Rising began, and their cameras recorded the event as the weakened light of the Dark Star caused the lichen on the trilithons to reveal the relative locations of each of the six vertices. Once the Titanic Rising and its light show ended, the group set the Altar Stone and everything else back to the way the ancient shrine had been before they had arrived. Once the Coalition of Minnows team completed their goals, Robertson arranged for them to reunite at Mortimer Island's naval base to determine what to do next. Once everybody had gathered, they adjourned to the laboratories. In the first lab, Wizard and the twins went over the Stonehenge data for the Vertex locations, figuring out the first Vertex was located near Abu Simbel. In the second lab, they united the Killing Stone with the Firestone, which provided them with the Pillar-laying dates. Finally, they used the Philosopher's Stone and Firestone to cleanse the two Pillars they had gathered. Once this was done, Jack led the team to lay the first Pillar, taking the Philosopher's Stone and Firestone with them and storing them on the Halicarnassus, while Robertson may have sent the Killing Stone back to the United States. En-route to Abu Simbel, Jack questioned the British royal, Iolanthe Compton-Jones, on what she knew, particularly regarding the Basin, however she knew nothing about its whereabouts or what it did. After the first Pillar was laid, various confrontations with Iolanthe's troops, the Japanese Blood Brotherhood and an Egyptian military convoy hired by the CIEF resulted in a small number of the Coalition team fleeing towards the Congo with the Pillar, Philosopher's Stone and Firestone in their possession. After Jack was brought to the Ethiopian mine and left to be crushed in a pit by a stone slab, he managed to escape and release the Jewish slave miners to help him overcome the Christian guards and save Pooh Bear. Once Jack had recovered from the ordeal, the Jewish people gave him the Twin Tablets as a show of gratitude. As they drove back to their old base at Victoria Station, Jack explained to Pooh Bear the history and purpose of the Twin Tablets, and once he reunited with the Adamson twins, Jack took the Tablets with him as he used Sea Ranger's aid to head to the second Vertex beneath Table Mountain. Meanwhile, Wizard's group located the Neetha, who possessed the second Pillar, however the Neethan warlock took their Sacred Stones, using them to cleanse the Pillar and used the Delphic Orb with the Firestone and the village's telescoping mechanism to view the Dark Star. When the the CIEF invaded the Neetha village, they managed to retrieve the two Pillars, Philosopher's Stone and Firestone, while Wizard and the others fled with the Delphic Orb. Wolf and his men proceeded to take the Philosopher's Stone and Firestone with them to Cape Town as they prepared to lay the second Pillar. The Five Greatest Warriors When the Coalition team reunited at Little McDonald Island, Jack showed Wizard the Twin Tablets, and Epper presumably showed off the Seeing Stone in turn. During the three-month interval between the laying of the second and third Pillars, the Philosopher's Stone was likely kept at Diego Garcia where Wolf and his forces did their research. During the Coalition's research into the Five Greatest Warriors and their relation to the components of the Machine, Alby's investigations into Napoléon led him discover a picture of the Basin of Monutuemhat and spied a inscription written in Thoth on its flank. After having Lily translate it, Alby learned that it read "the cleansing basin", and shared this revelation with the Coalition team. As a result, Pooh Bear, Stretch, Julius and Lachlan were dispatched to steal the Basin from the Museum. While Pooh Bear caused a fake bomb scare, the Adamson twins, disguised as museum gardeners, retrieved the Basin while everyone was distracted and wheeled the Basin out of the museum. After discovering that the third Pillar was hidden within its corresponding Vertex, the CIEF prepared an invasion force a couple of days before the third Pillar's due placement to enter the Hokkaido Vertex, taking the Philosopher's Stone and Firestone with them. Rapier carried the Philosopher's Stone within his pack as the CIEF attempted to enter the Vertex, however he was pinned down by gunfire from the Japanese forces around the entrance. Knowing that without the Philosopher's Stone they could not cleanse the Pillar, Wolf ordered his forces to do whatever it took to secure it, but it was only thanks to Jack, Lily and Zoe that Rapier and the Philosopher's Stone were secured. Jack proceeded to carry the Sacred Stone as the reluctantly allied groups made their way through the third Vertex, and once the third Pillar was obtained, the Philosopher's Stone and Firestone were used to cleanse it. As they were leaving the Vertex, Wolf, Rapier and Yanis were captured by Carnivore's men, along with the Philosopher's Stone. Once he obtained the two cleansing stones, Carnivore used them to cleanse his fifth Pillar, and then sent the Firestone to Iolanthe in Britain so that she could use it and the Basin to give her fourth Pillar its second cleansing once she had retrieved it. As Carnivore gathered most of the people involved in the Machine's restoration in his base, Pooh Bear's team were intercepted by Iolanthe and her troops, and the British Royal set up a video-link with Carnivore. The Russian proceeded to coerce most of them into working for him; after Iolanthe used the appropriated Basin to give his Pillar its second cleansing before proceeding to take it and some of the Spring water with her to Diego Garcia, where Jack, Lily and Sky Monster were forced to take the fifth Pillar for its second cleansing. Carnivore proceeded to keep the Philosopher's Stone and Twin Tablets aboard his Tupolev, while Jack left the Firestone and Basin onboard the Halicarnassus while he, Lily and Iolanthe ventured into the mine containing Jesus's tomb. However, after Cieran Kincaid led Carnivore and his men to the Halicarnassus, the Russian Royal took the Firestone and Basin, and added them to his collection aboard his plane. As his group made their way to the final Vertex on Easter Island, Carnivore used the Philosopher's Stone, Basin and Firestone to cleanse the final Pillar. Upon arrival at the final vertex, Carnivore laid out with the first five Pillars the Sacred Stones he had on an altar, and had Alexander translate the text on the Twin Tablets so that he would be able to read out the incantation necessary to activate the Machine. However, Jack soon arrived and killed Carnivore and his men, and then allowed Lily to read out the incantation from the Tablets out loud so that she could activate the Machine. The Philosopher's Stone, Twin Tablets and Basin, along with the Pillars and Firestone, were gathered up by Jack before he left the Vertex, and several weeks later he stored them (and likely the Seeing Stone as well) within an abandoned salt mine on his new farm with the intention of keeping them hidden away from the rest of the world. As for the remaining Sacred Stones, the Altar Stone would remain at Stonehenge, but the Killing Stone's final fate is unknown. Purpose The Six Stones are each in some way connected with the Machine, be it the Vertices, the Pillars or providing knowledge relating to the Machine or the Dark Star. For most of the Stones to reveal their true nature, they must be connected with the Firestone (not one of the Sacred Stones), and only one does not require the Firestone to function (the Twin Tablets). The Stones and their Functions The Philosopher's Stone The Philosopher's Stone is intended to cleanse each of the Pillars so that they are ready for placing inside each of the corresponding Vertices. There is a recess inside the Stone, into which the Pillar is placed before being closed by a lid, and the Firestone must then be placed in another, smaller recess in the lid. Following a bright flash of light, the Pillar is changed from a cloudy colour to a shiny translucent glass-like state. How the cleansing process works is unclear, most likely being the result of the Super-Ancient Beings' advanced technology.. The Altar Stone of Stonehenge The Altar Stone of the Stonehenge temple reveals the location of each of the Vertices. In order for this to work, the Firestone must be placed in a recess in the Altar Stone during a Titanic Rsing, which is when the Dark Star's bent invisible light shines upon Stonehenge. While the Altar Stone itself does not do anything, from its placing upon it, the Firestone shines purple light upon the standing stones, illuminating a strange moss. On each of the ten standing stones, there is the revelation of the seven continents and the three main ocean. The order of the Vertices is shown by a pinpoint of light at its location. The Killing Stone of the Maya The Killing Stone of the Maya reveals the dates and times that each Pillar must be placed at its corresponding Vertex. The Firestone fits into a recess at the top, and subsequently Mayan symbols start glowing, giving the dates and times. As the Mayan Calendar is similar to the modern calendar, it is easy to calculate the data. The Seeing Stone of Delphi The Delphic Orb is used to see the Dark Star. This is intended to be done at the location which would later become the Neetha Village. Using an inclinometer at the base of the extinct volcano, the Delphic Orb is then placed at the summit with the Firestone placed inside a recess in the bottom of the Orb. When one looks through the inclinometer and the Orb, it acts as a tubeless telescope, and one can see the Dark Star. The Twin Tablets of Thuthmosis The Twin Tablets of Thuthmosis contain an incantation that is to be performed at the last Vertex during the Pillar's placing. Both of the incantations (which is repeated on both Tablets) are written in Thoth, and so while this is the only one of the Sacred Stones that does not require the Firestone to work, only someone who can read the word of Thoth can perform the final ceremony to activate the Machine. The Basin of Rameses II The Basin of Rameses II performs a second cleansing of the latter three Pillars, due to the much harsher light of the Dark Star at the Pillar-placing times. The Basin must be filled with water from the Spring of the Black Poplar, and the Basin has a rectangular recess for the Firestone to fit into. When used with the Firestone, the Pillar (which is to have already been cleansed by the Philosopher's Stone) is to be placed into the Basin so that it is cleansed once again, taking on a slightly more lustrous sheen than the Philosopher's Stone-cleansed Pillar. Trivia *Despite it's relationship to the Six Sacred Stones, the Firestone is not actually one of them, though it could be considered an honourary Sacred Stone. Category:The Six Sacred Stones Category:The Five Greatest Warriors Category:Object